Now that he has made a bid to buy Wembley Stadium in London, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan has said publicly he would like to see the Super Bowl played there one day.
The news, from NFL.com and other sources, broke Tuesday afternoon.
“Wembley is a great stadium and you want to get it configured to hold Super Bowl and World Cup finals,” Khan said via a story by Herbie Teope of NFL.com.
“Our role would be to provide a world-class venue,” said Khan, who also owns Fulham Football Club. “[The Football Association] will have a pool of money of about £600m that can be invested into the core mission of the FA, which is English football and their ultimate goal of winning a World Cup,” he added.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have been the NFL host team for the International Series since 2013. Shad Khan and the NFL came to an agreement the Jaguars would host one home game a year through the 2020 season. According to a BBC Sport report, Khan said it would be “premature” for discussions on the Super Bowl being played in London.
Still, with the team owner playing games overseas and making a move to purchase the Jacksonville Jaguars’ “home” stadium, there were some who once again brought up the idea the NFL franchise would move its operation across the pond instead of staying at EverBank Field in North Florida.
Shad Khan addressed those rumors last Thursday night prior to the NFL Draft. He said the news of his decision to buy Wembley Stadium should not have come as a shock to the fan base or the national media.
“I cannot understand why it was a bombshell… I have business deals and investments all over the world. So I don’t understand. Every time there is a transaction [it] has visibility. Especially you folks [media] start connecting dots that shouldn’t be connected,” he said.
The move to purchase Wembley is monetarily beneficial for the Jaguars franchise, something Shad Khan pointed out. The revenue generated from the one game overseas helps the Jaguars’ stability since it is the one of the smallest markets in the league.
“I think Wembley is good because it gives us a chance that we are going to have access to it to play games when we want to play games. And that is a very, very important part of the Jacksonville Jaguars – being able to play over there. Look at the sponsors we have – they certainly weren’t here when we did not have international exposure,” Shad Khan said.
“Just walk over there to Daily’s Place and look at how many sponsors are there that do not even have U.S. business… who are supporting [the] Jacksonville Jaguars. So, corporate sponsorships’ ability to play when we want to play… really for the NFL to play, is very important.”